Studies of dielectric characteristics and surface energies of spin-coated polyimide films

A two-step method, that is, polyamic acid formation with subsequent curing, was used to synthesize six kinds of polyimides. Dielectric constants and surface energies were investigated to determine the nature of the fluorinated and nonfluorinated polyimides. The dielectric constant decreased from 3.3 (at 100 kHz) for PMDA/ODA to 2.6 (at 100 kHz) for 6FDA/4,4 ' -6F when the fluorine content increased from 0 to 30.7 wt %. Simultaneously, the water contact angle increased from 65 degrees for PMDA/ODA to 78 degrees for 6FDA/4,4 ' -6F. Experimental results indicated that fluorinated polyimides contained a lower dielectric constant with improved water resistance. The surface energy values obtained from experiments agreed well with Holmes' correlation between surface energy and dielectric constant. The surface energies and dielectric constants were significantly affected by the polymer backbone structures, especially by the fluorination effect. Therefore, by choosing the appropriate monomers, polyimides of low dielectric constants with hydrophobic surfaces could be obtained. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.